Archive for September 2022

I was speaking to someone who told me that he was “too old” for the changes in the way we use pronouns to treat people respectfully. I felt bad for this person. Obviously, his brain has atrophied to the point that a shift in simple, everyday language was beyond his level of cognition. I also…

More than a decade ago, a reader accused me of being materialistic after I wrote about my lack of a favorite number, specifically criticizing me for saying that when it comes to my salary, my favorite number is the largest number possible. After properly refuting his charges of materialism, I acknowledged that I had plenty…

Sometimes I stare at these photos of Charlie, cracking up during a game of cards, and remind myself that I should constantly, relentlessly, incessantly be seeking this level of joy in my life whenever possible. Yesterday, I turned a plastic bag with a single bagel inside into a weapon and attacked Charlie, swinging it like…

Clara started reading a new book today. The first page contained an epigraph. She read it aloud: “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” – Winston Churchill Then she turned to me and said, “Dad, that’s how you’ve lived your life!” “What do you mean?” I asked.…

I agree wholeheartedly with Truth Potato. A little bit of progress, made each day, amounts to something enormous over time. This is known as incrementalism. I wrote about it in my new book, Someday Is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life.  Incrementalism is a method of working by adding to a…

Back in 2009, Domino’s Pizza’s new president, Patrick Doyle, publicly announced in a commercial that his pizza sucked. He acknowledged that the Domino’s pizza of old simply was not very good — it didn’t use real cheese, its crust was terrible, its sauce was terrible, it tasted like cardboard, and it was an extremely horrible…

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average women spend 47 more minutes on housework than men do every day, which accumulates to about five and a half hours a week. The gender gap in housework exists in nearly every configuration of heterosexual households: Women do more housework when both partners work. Women do more housework…

My former student from 24 years ago – who later became my children’s first babysitter and whose wedding I officiated a few years ago – sent this image to me, saying: “Hey, I’m not sure why, but this made me think of you. I bet you two would be good friends.” She’s right. I adore…

If you’re someone who is still doing Wordle – and why wouldn’t you be? – you may also be aware of Wordle Bot, also operated by the New York Times. Wordle Bot analyzes your performance on Wordle daily and assigns you a score based on your performance that day. It turns out that Wordle Bot…

My kids have informed me that I am the soft parent and Elysha is the hard one. I’m so upset about this. Also excited. And so upset. And so excited. I honestly don’t know what to think.